Import API (FREE ALL)

Use the Import API to import repositories from GitHub or Bitbucket Server.

Import repository from GitHub

• Introduced in GitLab 15.8, GitLab no longer automatically creates namespaces or groups if the namespace or group name specified in target_namespace doesn't exist. GitLab also no longer falls back to using the user's personal namespace if the namespace or group name is taken or target_namespace is blank.
• Requirement for Maintainer role instead of Developer role introduced in GitLab 16.0 and backported to GitLab 15.11.1 and GitLab 15.10.5.
• collaborators_import key in optional_stages was introduced in GitLab 16.0.

Import your projects from GitHub to GitLab using the API.

Prerequisites:

• Prerequisites for GitHub importer.
• The namespace set in target_namespace must exist.
• The namespace can be your user namespace or an existing group that you have at least the Maintainer role for.

POST /import/github

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/import/github" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --data '{
    "personal_access_token": "aBc123abC12aBc123abC12abC123+_A/c123",
    "repo_id": "12345",
    "target_namespace": "group/subgroup",
    "new_name": "NEW-NAME",
    "github_hostname": "https://github.example.com",
    "optional_stages": {
      "single_endpoint_issue_events_import": true,
      "single_endpoint_notes_import": true,
      "attachments_import": true,
      "collaborators_import": true
    },
    "additional_access_tokens": "foo,bar"
}'

The following keys are available for optional_stages:

• single_endpoint_issue_events_import, for issue and pull request events import.
• single_endpoint_notes_import, for an alternative and more thorough comments import.
• attachments_import, for Markdown attachments import.
• collaborators_import, for importing direct repository collaborators who are not outside collaborators.

For more information, see Select additional items to import.

You can supply multiple personal access tokens in additional_access_tokens from different user accounts to import projects faster.

Example response:

{
    "id": 27,
    "name": "my-repo",
    "full_path": "/root/my-repo",
    "full_name": "Administrator / my-repo"
}

Use multiple GitHub personal access tokens

Introduced in GitLab 16.2.

The GitHub import API can accept more than one GitHub personal access token using the additional_access_tokens property so the API can make more calls to GitHub before hitting the rate limit. The additional GitHub personal access tokens:

• Cannot be from the same account because they would all share one rate limit.
• Must have the same permissions and sufficient privileges to the repositories to import.

Import a public project through the API using a group access token

Introduced in GitLab 15.7, projects are not imported into a bot user's namespace in any circumstances. Projects imported into a bot user's namespace could not be deleted by users with valid tokens, which represented a security risk.

When you import a project from GitHub to GitLab through the API using a group access token:

• The GitLab project inherits the original project's visibility settings. As a result, the project is publicly accessible if the original project is public.
• If the path or target_namespace does not exist, the project import fails.

Cancel GitHub project import

Introduced in GitLab 15.5.

Cancel an in-progress GitHub project import using the API.

POST /import/github/cancel

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/import/github/cancel" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --data '{
    "project_id": 12345
}'

Example response:

{
    "id": 160,
    "name": "my-repo",
    "full_path": "/root/my-repo",
    "full_name": "Administrator / my-repo",
    "import_source": "source/source-repo",
    "import_status": "canceled",
    "human_import_status_name": "canceled",
    "provider_link": "/source/source-repo"
}

Returns the following status codes:

• 200 OK: the project import is being canceled.
• 400 Bad Request: the project import cannot be canceled.
• 404 Not Found: the project associated with project_id does not exist.

Import GitHub gists into GitLab snippets

• Introduced in GitLab 15.8 with a flag named github_import_gists. Disabled by default. Enabled on GitLab.com.
• Enabled on self-managed in GitLab 15.10.
• Generally available in GitLab 15.11. Feature flag github_import_gists removed.

You can use the GitLab API to import personal GitHub gists (with up to 10 files) into personal GitLab snippets. GitHub gists with more than 10 files are skipped. You should manually migrate these GitHub gists.

If any gists couldn't be imported, an email is sent with a list of gists that were not imported.

POST /import/github/gists

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/import/github/gists" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_gitlab_access_token>" \
  --data '{
    "personal_access_token": "<your_github_personal_access_token>"
}'

Returns the following status codes:

• 202 Accepted: the gists import is being started.
• 401 Unauthorized: user's GitHub personal access token is invalid.
• 422 Unprocessable Entity: the gists import is already in progress.
• 429 Too Many Requests: the user has exceeded GitHub's rate limit.

Import repository from Bitbucket Server

Import your projects from Bitbucket Server to GitLab using the API.

The Bitbucket Project Key is only used for finding the repository in Bitbucket. You must specify a target_namespace if you want to import the repository to a GitLab group. If you do not specify target_namespace, the project imports to your personal user namespace.

Prerequisites:

• For more information, see prerequisites for Bitbucket Server importer.

POST /import/bitbucket_server

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/import/bitbucket_server" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --data '{
    "bitbucket_server_url": "http://bitbucket.example.com",
    "bitbucket_server_username": "root",
    "personal_access_token": "Nzk4MDcxODY4MDAyOiP8y410zF3tGAyLnHRv/E0+3xYs",
    "bitbucket_server_project": "NEW",
    "bitbucket_server_repo": "my-repo"
}'

Automate group and project import (PREMIUM ALL)

For information on automating user, group, and project import API calls, see Automate group and project import.

Related topics

• Group migration by direct transfer API.
• Group import and export API.
• Project import and export API.